Hello this is my first time on this site. I would like to restart a discussion raised before. How might the figure
of Fantomas connect with Zodiac? (N.B. These events happened in the late ’60s, and I am excluding Francophones [outside
the US]

Bonjour Tristan – I confess I’ve never heard of Fantômas, or seen him discussed in respect to Zodiac. Maybe he should be.
Is this Wiki entry at all accurate?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fant%C3%B4mas

I personally have reservations about Z. as a Francophile, since he seemed to not recognise the expression "Tête à Tête" when writing the Little List letter – but I can see that as a kind of comic-book villain, he certainly has some parallels to Z.

Would you like to expand?

Somebody mentioned this way back in 2000….

"I have to agree with Tom about the prints. While Z was not the Fantomas-like genius the media, notably Graysmith, made him out to be, he was no simpleton either. Fingerprinting was a given if he was ever apprehended, and he would have safeguarded against this event. Gloves!
If Z was behind the LB murder, wouldn’t it be reasonable to suppose that a guy who was willing to concoct a bizarre ‘Unknown Comedian meets Ko Ko’-type costume, would go to the trouble of buying gloves?
Z was just very lucky that he committed his crimes when he did, as he would have been caught in this day and age. If this message appears twice, I apologize (e-mail problem).
Oscar.
p.s. Gareth Penn in 2004! Ride the wave"

It was OSCAR back on an old archived zk.com thread

Thanks for all the feedback! I will try to outline what I meant by post. I’m not sure the alleged attacker at LB was necessarily a Francophile, however,
but quite devoted and knowledgeable regarding film, and Louis Fuillade’s (sic) Fantomas silent series was probably largely unknown in the US except to quite a rarified few. [Before VCRs and DVDs, made them widely available, that is.]) I am not suggesting by any means that he saw himself, or should be viewed as a criminal mastermind, just that one publicity card w/ Fantomas & knife looks astonishingly similar to the LB attack. I don’t think he was "lucky" to evade the dedicated SF and county authorities, he was extremely careful and precise, perhaps, as Mr. Graysmith has suggested, performing ‘dry runs"
before he acted (in the Stine killing). Gloves did not present any more problem than the model cement claimed used to evade fingerprints (though, true enough, 8 points of 12 needed for handprint identification was left behind.) The G& S line references to the Mikado, much like other Z communications, were deliberate, too, not just in misspellings, and have a "topsy-turvy" quality to them. ( Coincidentally, Mike Leigh’s wonderful film, Topsy-Turvey, illustrated that Victorian era theaters, like D’Oyly Carte’s, employed some sort of code to inform only a limited few, the returns of ticket sales.)

In either case, my point is about the significance of the figure of Fantomas is this: the significance not for everyday folks like us, but significance for whom? The fact remains, a subset of Francophiles, or better, members of an art movement which began in France with Andre Breton, Man Ray,and others, known as Surrealists were fascinated by the figure of Fantomas. Why? Who knows? Perhaps the ubiquitous feature of Fantomas was some sort of metaphor for how the increasingly rapid communications web of modernity was being felt, experienced in the early 20th century, though, this is only a speculation on my part .If Graysmith theorized that the killer uses the "tools of an artist, etc." one must follow that to its logical conclusion, no matter how disturbing; therefore to insist an aesthetically inclined person could carefully commit homicide, is not unheard of.

One final point. If the codes and ciphers of Z killer were un-crackable: Why was Z so anxious and keen to get it published, etc?

I’m sure this question has been asked before, but I’m a newbie, so please bear with me. I did a lot of research in the past, particularly focusing on the Bates homicide, and have developed a "person of interest." I’ve tried to contact the Riverside Police Department, but they’re wedded to their suspect, "Bob Barnett." Further, they are po’d greatly at Robert Graysmith, and adamantly refuse to consider the possibility that Zodiac might be responsible for Bates’ death.
My question is this: what avenues are available to me to contact authorities who won’t dismiss me as a fruitcake from the outset. (Only my wife is qualified to do that!) Any assistance would be appreciated.

I’m sure this question has been asked before, but I’m a newbie, so please bear with me. I did a lot of research in the past, particularly focusing on the Bates homicide, and have developed a "person of interest." I’ve tried to contact the Riverside Police Department, but they’re wedded to their suspect, "Bob Barnett." Further, they are po’d greatly at Robert Graysmith, and adamantly refuse to consider the possibility that Zodiac might be responsible for Bates’ death.
My question is this: what avenues are available to me to contact authorities who won’t dismiss me as a fruitcake from the outset. (Only my wife is qualified to do that!) Any assistance would be appreciated.

Well, come up with the facts and we’ll sign a petitition..you may want to tell which suspect you talk about? Thx,

QT

I’m sure this question has been asked before, but I’m a newbie, so please bear with me. I did a lot of research in the past, particularly focusing on the Bates homicide, and have developed a "person of interest." I’ve tried to contact the Riverside Police Department, but they’re wedded to their suspect, "Bob Barnett." Further, they are po’d greatly at Robert Graysmith, and adamantly refuse to consider the possibility that Zodiac might be responsible for Bates’ death.
My question is this: what avenues are available to me to contact authorities who won’t dismiss me as a fruitcake from the outset. (Only my wife is qualified to do that!) Any assistance would be appreciated.

If you call RPD, and say to them, "I might have some information about the Bates case", or something similar, they will probably not respond by saying "what do you have?", but rather, "if this is about the Zodiac case, Cheri was not a zodiac victim".

Riverside PD is flat out terrible,and bungled this case. They refuse to let go of their suspect, despite DNA clearing him. Blinders on all the way, and not only does it possibly impede her case being solved, but also might impede the Zodiac case too. If it’s proven that Z didnt kill Cheri,so be it, but to simply dismiss it and turn a blind eye to the possibility is crazy. Kevin Fagan, SF Chron reporter, is/was a member here, and somebody like him should do a story on how terrible a job the RPD did with Cheri’s case.

Me, an average nobody, was able to find, NOT 1, BUT 2, students that graduated with Cheri in 66 in Riverside& one of them moved to Vallejo and one to Napa. I also found out that there was a disturbed sexual offender in northern CA named FLAKE CASTO or CASTRO, that was a year ahead of Cheri in Ramona high school, and was a student at RCC. His sex offender flyer reads something like "psychologically disturbed". THEFOREIGNER, saw that I found this guy, and then blew me away when she verified his Family had owned Cheri’s house before she moved in. Why isnt somebody like this guy questioned? Amazing when we can find this stuff, and police dont have a clue

I imagine most PD’s are fed up with people who contact them with Zodiac information. Can you imagine how many people have done this over the years? HUNDREDS. Unfortunately, one of them could be right some day.

I imagine most PD’s are fed up with people who contact them with Zodiac information. Can you imagine how many people have done this over the years? HUNDREDS. Unfortunately, one of them could be right some day.

I would easily say it’s THOUSANDS or if it is hundreds then almost certainly thousands of times all in.

I imagine most PD’s are fed up with people who contact them with Zodiac information. Can you imagine how many people have done this over the years? HUNDREDS. Unfortunately, one of them could be right some day.

I would easily say it’s THOUSANDS or if it is hundreds then almost certainly thousands of times all in.

It may well be the case that some of those thousands of pieces of information are correct. In the Yorkshire Ripper case the police had the name of he killer for a while before he was caught, it was just lost in the quagmire of false leads. I would imagine after so much time and with such a sea of information, any evidence would have to be particularly compelling to get LE to act. How can we separate the fact from the fiction?

According to Greysmith’s book, Bobbie Ramos, the waitress at Terry’s Waffle Shop, indicated she received a call at work from Officer Gordon announcing Dee’s death at around 12:15; however, Dee DOA was approx 12:38. Was this just a typo?

According to Greysmith’s book, Bobbie Ramos, the waitress at Terry’s Waffle Shop, indicated she received a call at work from Officer Gordon announcing Dee’s death at around 12:15; however, Dee DOA was approx 12:38. Was this just a typo?

Good question.

I don’t know if it was a typo, a mistake by Bobbie, or if he did it on purpose to make us question Gordon. If true, than Gordon would almost have to be her killer…and since he dated Darlene it makes it all the more interesting.

I tend to think it was just someones error.

Yes indeedy, I’m aware she dated him.

Wasn’t he not in Vallejo at the time? Oh, wait. I think I’m confusing people, you mean buzz right, not Arthur?